


Charles Darwin nodded and smiled a knowing smile

by the_scarlet_01



Series: Buck and Eddie can't catch a break [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Bobby is Everyone's Dad, Established Relationship, Injured Buck, Injured Eddie, Injured on a call, M/M, Worried Bobby Nash, nurses have a tough job, threats of sedation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21550126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_scarlet_01/pseuds/the_scarlet_01
Summary: An explosion on a call lands both Buck and Eddie in the hospital. Everyone is worried about everyone.Follows 'Now when do I start to feel again?' but can be read as a stand alone.
Relationships: Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: Buck and Eddie can't catch a break [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552987
Comments: 4
Kudos: 217





	Charles Darwin nodded and smiled a knowing smile

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd  
> Title from:  
> “John, possessing a genetic defect that makes him walk toward danger, strode down toward where it looked like some cops were trying to set up a perimeter around the chaos. Somewhere, Charles Darwin nodded and smiled a knowing smile.”  
> ― David Wong, This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It  
> Because that is just so Buck...

Evan Buckley finally felt his life was getting back to some semblance of normalcy. He’d been back with the 118 for some time. He was back on calls for most of it, but more importantly he had his family back. He honestly had thought it would take longer than it did, but his team was talking to him and he felt like someone had his back again. He wasn’t alone. Buck could finally breathe again.

As Buck walked up the stairs at the start of his shift he couldn’t help but smile. He was home. Every single day he got to walk into the station after everything that had happened felt more and more like home than his actual apartment did. His first full shift back and on calls had been tough, a literal bruise to the face, but it had led into some of the best days of his life. He’d spent most of his time off with Eddie and Christopher. If he wasn’t with one, or both of them, he was with Maddie and Chim, the latter pair loving to give him a hard time about the former. So as Buck moved into the common area, smiling at his family, he felt a calm wash over him. He would never take this place for granted again. He wouldn’t let himself. He’d nearly lost it all too many times to let that happen. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a warm hand on his shoulder. A touch he’d come to appreciate beyond almost anything he knew possible. He leaned into the touch.

“Morning Bobby,” Buck smiled at his father figure.

“Morning Buck,” Bobby nodded, giving Buck’s shoulder a squeeze before letting go. “You hungry?”

“Always.” Buck nodded.

Bobby chuckled, not surprised by the younger man’s response. “Then lets get cooking.” They both headed towards the kitchen. Buck said hi to Hen and Chim as he went and started prepping the veggies for omelets. Bobby finished prepping the pan and eggs, all while keeping an eye on Buck. He couldn’t stop glancing at Buck. Bobby was glad to have the youngest firefighter’s help, but he knew the knife was sharp enough to do a lot of damage with a single slip. His concern lessened somewhat, at the seer level of concentration the younger man seemed to put into the task. Buck was clearly trying to be careful to not knick his fingers with the blade as he chopped peppers. Bobby wanted Buck to know he had faith in him, especially after what happened with the lawsuit. He was grateful to get the chance to put it all behind them. He was proud of the kid and he’d do everything he could to keep an eye on him, to keep him safe and make sure he made it home at the end of the day. Bobby knew there were no guarantees in life, especially in their line of work, but he’d damn well try. Buck had been there through some of the worst days in Bobby’s life since either of them started at the 118. He’d seen Buck go through life changing and nearly lost him more times than Bobby thought his heart could handle, but the kid had walked in with a smile. The fact Evan Buckley had survived a bombing that nearly took his leg, a pulmonary embolism, and a tsunami, yet somehow still managed to smile was beyond Bobby’s comprehension. Buck managed to drag himself through hell, most of which Bobby will always feel guilty about. Bobby would easily admit that he was beyond grateful to have Buck back with them. He would never stop worrying about Buck, but having the chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with the kid again, be it in the kitchen or in the field, was something Bobby wouldn’t trade for anything. Bobby was determined to be there for the kid. Bobby grinned as he watched the younger man survey the work he’d just finished, a variety of finely chopped vegetable ready to be added to the pan. “Nicely done,” Bobby nodded when Buck looked over at him. The smile his words received was bright enough to light up the room. Bobby set to work making the first omelet. Buck watching closely and handing Bobby whatever he needed. They didn’t notice they’d gained an audience as they worked quietly side by side.

Eddie Diaz smiled as he crossed the space and leaned against the kitchen island. He took a moment at first to just appreciate the figure that was his boyfriend as the younger man focused on helping his father figure make breakfast for the crew. He didn’t want to interrupt the quiet focus the two seemed to have. He watched as Buck held a plate out for Bobby to slide a freshly made omelet on. The smile on the young firefighter’s face as he turned to set the plate on the counter warmed Eddie to the core. The smile grew when he noticed Eddie. “Morning,” Eddie smiled back at him.

“Morning,” Buck nodded before leaning as far as he could over the island to catch Eddie’s lips in a quick kiss, cheeks tinting red at the wolf whistles and teasing from the rest of the crew. Eddie shook his head and laughed as Buck turned back to helping Bobby.

“Morning lover boy,” Hen grinned as she walked over and swiped the plated omelet, nudging Eddie’s shoulder as she did. Eddie ducked his head slightly, the tips of his ears pink.

“Morning Hen, how’s the family?” Eddie asked when he had finally managed to collect himself.

“Doing fine,” Hen nodded. “How’s the kid?”

“Chris is good.” Eddie smiled as he mentioned his son.

“Still having nightmares?” Hen asked.

“Not nearly as much.” Eddie answered, glancing up at Buck as he did. He could see the muscles in the younger man’s shoulders tense slightly at the question. Eddie knew both Chris and Buck still had nightmares about the tsunami. Being able to check on each other was helping them both, but Buck and Eddie both knew healing from what happened was a marathon, not a sprint. It would take however long it needed. Bobby must have noticed the change in the man next to him.

“You alright, kid?” Bobby asked as he plated another omelet. He took the plate from Buck and set it on the counter. Buck nodded but didn’t say anything.

Hen gave Eddie an apologetic smile, nudged his shoulders, and grabbed the second omelet to bring to Chim at the table. Eddie nodded, a sad smile on his face. He moved around the counter and wrapped his arms around Buck. He didn’t care if the rest of the crew gave him a hard time. He knew Buck needed it, and that was what mattered.

Buck helped Bobby finish the rest of the omelets, Eddie lending a hand when needed. Eddie felt the knot in his stomach loosen as a smile slowly returned to Buck’s face. Having Bobby and Eddie so close helped calm the memories brought up by Hen’s question. Buck knew Hen hadn’t meant to upset him. She was worried about Christopher. He knew Hen loved the boy as much as the entire team did. The boy was part of the 118 family. Knowing why she asked helped calm him. They managed to keep the conversation light during breakfast, Buck slowly joining in. Eddie gave Buck’s knee an encouraging squeeze.

Breakfast dishes were partially cleaned when the alarms went off to signify the first call for the Buck’s shift. The first call was assistance with a welfare check that went shockingly smooth. The rest of the morning seemed quiet, until just before lunch. The alarms went off and the team sprung into action. Bobby briefed the team about a fire that started in the utility room of a shop that was being remodeled. The fire had spread into a storage facility next door. They were the second crew on scene, and jumped right into the fray. The main goal was to make sure everyone was out of the storage facility and then save as much of the facility as possible.

Eddie and Buck went in to sweep the facility, starting at the top. The fire suppression system made their jobs relatively easy. Most of the people had fled when the fire doors started to swing closed and the sprinklers came on. They moved to the second floor and found the same thing, closed fire doors and active sprinklers. The ground floor proved to be an issue. For some reason the sprinkler system wasn’t working, only half the fire doors seemed to work, and the people were just plain stubborn. There weren’t many people around but three individuals decided their belongings were more important than their lives. Buck radio’d it in and was told to do the best they can. Eddie went to see about manually closing the fire doors. Buck tried to negotiate with the people refusing to leave. One man left when Eddie managed to free the blocked fire door near the man’s storage unit. That left one man for each firefighter to deal with, seemed easy enough. They’d drag them out of there kicking and screaming if they needed to. Or at least that was the plan, they were very wrong.

Turns out the two men had taken the storage facilities rules as more of suggestions, especially the rule about no flammable chemicals were to be kept in the facility. By the time the two firefighters discovered it and radio’d it in they had just enough time to drag the men behind the nearest fire door and hope for the best. The best turned out to be pretty damn shitty. The resulting blast mangled the doors and engulfed several units. The rest of the call was pure chaos.

The first thing Buck noticed when he came to was beeping. It took him a second to realize the beeping was from his own PASS unit. He ignored the pain in his body as he reached up to shake the damn thing and stop the beeping. He heard the radio next, Bobby shouting for them to check in, to say anything. Buck grit his teeth, ignored the pain in his arm and ribs as he reached for his radio. Gripping the button was agony but he managed.

“We got two civilians down.” Buck coughed out, the smoke burning his lungs, eyes and throat.

“Buck!” Bobby shouted through the radio. “Just hang on we’re working on getting to you. Any sign of Eddie?”

“I-“ Buck swiped at his eyes and struggled to get to his feet, cradling his injured arm and tried to look through the smoke. He scrambled forward when he saw Eddie half pinned under one of the fire doors. “Eddie!” Buck ignored the screaming pain in his side and put all he had into moving the door. When the door finally moved, he made a quick check of Eddie and his gear. Eddie still had a pulse. Buck thanked every power that was possibly out there that his gear still seemed to be working. His helmet was askew and his mask twisted. He righted Eddie’s mask before checking on the civilians. His lungs burning as he tied off one man’s bleeding arm. “Eddie has-,” Buck coughed. “Has a pulse, - unresponsive.” Buck dropped to his knees coughing, his chest burning. “Just-hang-on.” Then the world went black.

Eddie woke up to the sound of beeping. He hurt like hell, but he knew that was a good thing. Pain meant he was alive. He struggled to open his eyes. He hadn’t expected Bobby to be the first person he sees.

“Cap?” Eddie’s voice felt like gravel in his throat.

Bobby’s head shot up and he leaned forward. “Eddie, you’re awake.” Bobby reached over to page the nurse, telling her Eddie was awake.

“What-,” Eddie cleared his throat. Thankful when Bobby held out a glass of water for him.

“What happened?” Bobby finished for him. Eddie nodded. “What is the last thing you remember?” Bobby asked.

“Buck and I, we cleared the top floors, there were a few idiots.” Eddie struggled to remember. “They put up a fight.”

“So you don’t remember the explosion?” Bobby asked.

“N-no,” Eddie shook his head before looking around. “Buck. Where’s Buck?” The heart monitor started beeping faster.

“Eddie, you need to calm down.” Bobby grabbed Eddie’s shoulders, as a nurse came in.

“Mr. Diaz, you need to calm down. You need to breathe,” The nurse spoke, “If you don’t we will have to sedate you.”

“Eddie,” Bobby spoke, using his Captain tone. “Calm down. I will tell you everything, but you wont remember anything if they have to sedate you. Take a breath.”

Eddie nodded and forced himself to breathe. He called on all the training he could remember to try and calm his breathing.

“Thank you, Captain Nash.” The nurse smiled. Once Eddie seemed to calm some, she recorded his vitals. “The doctor should be in soon.” She checked the IV drip before leaving.

“Bobby, where’s Buck?” Eddie asked, trying to remain calm.

“Buck is recovering.” Bobby tried to start by reassuring Eddie that Buck was alive. “He came to at the scene while we were trying to get to you guys. He found you pinned under a door. I don’t know how he managed to get it off of you, but he managed to buy you some time by making sure your mask was on right and still working. Unfortunately he didn’t have his own.” Bobby squeezed Eddie’s shoulder gently as Eddie’s heart monitor sped up. “Eddie, he’s alive. He woke up a few hours ago.” Bobby eyed the monitor until the beeping slowed a bit. “He’ll be okay. Christopher is with him. Your grandmother needed a break so Hen took her to the cafeteria. Maddie is keeping an eye on Buck and Christopher.”

Eddie let out a sob that made his whole body hurt, but he didn’t care. He was so relieved that Buck was okay.

“One of the civilians lost an arm,” Bobby sighed, “but considering they caused the explosion, well lets just say a lot of people have mixed feelings about what happened, but they’ll live to see how it all plays out.” Eddie shook his head. At this point he didn’t care about that. He did his job, all he wanted to do was check on his boyfriend, but before he could respond to Bobby the doctor came in.

“Good evening, Mr. Diaz. I’m Dr. Jameson. How about we take a quick look at you and then I’ll let you know what is happening.” The doctor looked Eddie over, checking his lungs and heart.

“You have a few broken ribs, a broken wrist, and your leg is severely bruised but luckily not broken. Your helmet and mask protected your head but you may still have some pain from the hit you took. It could have been much worse, Mr. Diaz.”

Not long after the doctor left there was a knock at the door. Bobby grinned and asked, “You awake?”

“Mmhmm.” Eddie mumbled.

“Good because someone missed you.” Bobby went over and opened the door. Eddie did his best to follow his movement.

“ Dad!” Christopher shouts before making his way over as fast as his crutches could manage. Maddie gives Bobby a quick hug and closes the door.

“Hey buddy,” Eddie smiles at his son. Bobby lifts Christopher onto the bed before the boy can hurt himself trying to climb up on his own.

“Be careful, Chris,” Maddie reminded him.

“I know,” the little boy smiled as he snuggled into his dad’s side.

“Thanks for looking after him, Maddie.” Eddie smiled at his boyfriend’s sister.

“Anytime,” Maddie smiled back. “Besides, Buck did most of the work, I just supplied the snacks.”

“How is he?” Eddie asked. He hated not having Buck there with him.

“Unbelievably glad you’re awake.” Maddie sat down in the chair Bobby had been sitting in. “Which means he’ll finally let himself relax, and actually sleep.”

Eddie buried his face in his son’s hair to give himself a chance to breathe and stay calm. Of course his boyfriend would force himself to the edge while trying to comfort Christopher and worry about Eddie more than he cares for himself, again.

“But he’s going to be okay, right Chris?” Maddie smiled at the little boy.

“Yup,” Chris smiled. “They said I did a good job taking care of him.”

“You did, did you?” Eddie looked between his son and Maddie.

“He did.” Maddie nodded. “They watched cartoons and talked about anything and everything possible, including debating the best colors and flavors of jello. You know, the most important of topics.”

Eddie laughed, he did his best to hide how it made his injured body hurt.

Christopher frowned. “You can’t laugh either?”

“What? No. I can, I’m just sore. It’s okay.” Eddie hugged his son close, but gave a confused look to Maddie and Bobby.

Maddie sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear as she leaned forward. “Buck had breathing issues as a kid and I guess it has flared up from the smoke inhalation.” Maddie hadn’t gone in to see Eddie with the intention to tell him that. Buck had asked her not to share that fact. Buck didn’t want Eddie to worry about it, but Christopher had essentially broached the topic.

“How bad is it?” Eddie asked, carding the fingers of his uninjured hand through his son’s curls to ground himself and stay calm. He needs to know Buck is alright. He couldn’t lose another person he loved.

“The doctors are handling it, oxygen and medication. It’s just a matter of clearing out his lungs and avoiding a secondary infection, but it could be worse. He can actually make it through a sentence without coughing.” Maddie forced a smile. “He had a few cuts from the blast, and having his mask and helmet knocked off, but he got lucky. His gear took the brunt of it. He’d been blocking the one –“ She wanted to call the men that caused the explosion all sort of terrible things, but she looked at Christopher, took a deep breath and continued, “Guy, the civilian, so he didn’t hit the ground too hard initially. His shoulder must have hit something. It was dislocated when they found him. He has some bruising on his side, bruised ribs, and bump on the head from when he passed out. But no internal bleeding thankfully, so the blood thinners didn’t factor in as much as they could have. He’ll be back on his feet annoyingly fast. I can pretty much guarantee it.” Maddie shook her head but smiled. She looked at the clock on the wall. “I should go. Can’t have him waking up alone.” She patted Eddie’s less bruised leg. “He’ll be okay, Eddie.” She turned to Bobby. “I’ll message you if anything changes.”

“Thanks, Maddie.” Bobby nods.

“Bye Chris. Take as good of care of your dad as you did Buck.” Maddie waved at the boy.

“I will, bye Maddie.” Christopher waved back.

“Tell him I’ll see him as soon as they’ll let me.” Eddie told her.

“Assuming he doesn’t beat you to it.” Maddie laughed. “But I’ll let him know.”

“How’d he look?” Buck asked as soon as Maddie was in the room.

“You are supposed to be sleeping.” Maddie lightly scolded her brother. He waved it off with the arm that wasn’t in a sling. Maddie shook her head. “He looked tired and sore, but he was happy to see Christopher. He was awake and alert. He was asking about you. So you need to sleep or you both are going to just keep worrying until the nurses sedate you and then you’ll have to wait even longer.”

Buck tried to ask more questions but all that came out was a coughing fit.

“See, you need to rest, your lungs need to heal. Don’t make me get the nurse.” Maddie ignored the glare her brother sent her as she helped him lay back against the pillows. She took his hand in hers.

“So he really is okay?” Buck finally managed to ask.

“Yes, he told me to tell you that he’ll see you when they let him.” Maddie grinned.

“Not if I see him first.” Buck stated. 

“Told him you’d say that.” Maddie laughed, causing Buck to smile. “Now sleep, little brother. Eddie and Bobby have Christopher. So you have nothing stopping you. I’ll wake you if anything changes, okay?”

Buck nodded and gave her hand a tight squeeze before letting his eyes close. Maddie sent a few one handed texts before she settled in so her brother could sleep.

Bobby checked his phone when it buzzed. He shook his head and sighed.

“What’s up?” Eddie whispered, turning away from the cartoon his son had been mostly sleeping through.

“Just Buck being Buck.” Bobby smiled fondly.

“He okay?” Eddie asked, the stupid monitor speeding up slightly.

“He’s fine, he was just waiting to ask Maddie about how you were doing when she got back. She’s starting to doubt he was ever sleeping in the first place.”

Eddie’s brows furrowed, he knew Buck often put off his own basic needs, but while they were both in the hospital? That was a new level of stubborn, even for Buck.

“He’ll be fine, Maddie threatened to have him sedated so he finally agreed to sleep. So he should be out for a few hours.”

“Good he needs it.” Eddie shook his head.

“He’s not the only one.” Bobby pointed out.

“I know, I know. No need to sedate me.” Eddie grinned.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.  
> You can find my writings on tumblr at sortofanobsession


End file.
